Swedish Meatballs & Mulled Wine | Basics with Babish

This week we're taking a look inside the mind of the Swede - specifically, their delicious and addictive brand of meatballs - and their frankly not-as-delicious (in my opinion) brand of mulled wine, glögg. Just my opinion.

Blue Wednesday - Apple Pies and Butterflies, Murmuration

My playlist of preferred cooking tunes, Bangers with Babish!

[sunnowo]

"Cranberry sauce makes for an acceptable substitute"

Sweden as a country has been in peace for around 200 years...until now

[gourmetbacon]

Saying that Swedes drink Glögg with their food is exactly like saying that Americans drink Eggnog with their food

[PrimyFritzellz]

Gluug, or as its called Glögg, is something we never ever have with Swedish meatballs. It's a Christmas tradition just like eggnog.

[Stukov]

Cranberries as a substitute for lingon is like making Carbonara with American "cheese".
You're lucky swedes are way less angry about inauthentic food than Italians Andy.

[snojbel]

As Babish was saying "These guys are really small", my (swedish) thoughts were "Wow, those guys are really big"

[stegosaurus]

I love how this man can get his hands on $7000 cognac, chinese scallops and bull testicles but not cheese curds or lingonberries

[gustavv]

As a swede I can tell you that a dash of soy sauce isn't as untraditional as you might think, my grandma always threw in a splash when she was making any kind of gravy, including when she was making meatballs.

[ted]

Swedish meatballs aren't "commonly" served with lingonberries. It is a MUST. And your pronunciation is correct enough for an American. ;)

[BXZ]

As a swede, I will opt to forget everything I just saw and patiently wait for the "botched by Babish" episode.
Imagine not using a 1-2-3 pickling solution for pressed pickles.

[Vespuchian]

Everyone's in the comments talking about lingon berries while I'm back here, wondering if Babish has ever tried making mashed potatoes using sour cream.

[realkingofantarctica]

IKEA has always been one of my favourite restaurants. Did you know they recently started selling furniture too?

[orCane]

As a Swede, I'm delighted to see you getting both the meatballs and the gravy perfectly right, even if the meatballs are still a bit on the larger side. The addition of the soy sauce for colour in the gravy is actually more authentic than you might think - my great grandmas recipe included "colouring soy" (which is actually not soy but black caramel colour and salt).

[lenajander]

Soy sauce is actually quite traditionally used in swedish meatballs.It's even in a cookbook from the sixties I've found.

[oliverkarehag]

My 103 year old grandmother used to add “kolorit” a thick soy like sauce mostly used to make the roux browner. So the soy is somewhat traditional in home cooking.

[Sackiara]

As yet another no, nothing can replace lingonberries. And we do not drink glögg with the meatballs. It is more often then not a social drink (in my family we have it before the food at Christmas) or something to drink while curled up on the sofa during the winter.

[etherealgears]

Babish, Swede here. I'm in contact with the Hague as we speak regarding this "you can just substitute cranberry sauce" statement of yours.

[emilschneider]

Begin a Swede I find this incredibly fun, (btw glögg has more or less become a christmas drink, it ain't something we have with our Swedish meatballs)

[mimmilehtimaki]

Me: This sounds like perfectly respectable recipe for Glög.
Babish: Boils raisins and almonds in with the spices.
Me: What's happening? No non nono... The toppings are in the boil...

[krabba]

Glögg ”typically served with swedish meatballs” hahaha no Swede has ever had glögg with their meatballs 😂🤣

[hppidippi]

As a Finn, replacing lingonberries with cranberries seems like a crime xd